Celebrating Black Creativity
The winds of positivity and renewed energy arising from the recent Presidential inauguration have gone some way towards recharging batteries running on empty.
We at aKAZ! feel a visceral reaction to seeing ‘normal’ people on that world stage who look like many of us with concentric circles of families, friends, and acquired families spanning the globe. When the public space showcases these encounters as something positive and aspirational then that is the sweet spot where innovation meets culture meets tradition meets the moment and bingo.
So all the more joy for us to continue co-hosting Senegalese artist, Cheikh Tidiane Keita, while he sojourns in Atlanta hosted by Gallery Miriam. ‘Dakar Living’ will be on display until February 28, 2021. We love watching the alchemy happen when visitors view Cheikh’s work in his presence. Some of you caught a glimpse of why our love affair with Dakar and Senegal is ongoing and more critically perhaps we sparked an interest in you for the cultural creation going on all over the African continent. Thank you to the many of you who have already come and interacted with Cheikh and experienced his representations, visions, and hopes for his home country and city of Dakar. Please come again, bring your friends, spread the word, and help gain traction for African contemporary art in Atlanta. Dakar Living will be on display until February 28.
We are also hoping for more normal times where gathering starts to be the norm again and we can resume fertile encounters around our dinner table. The art in our home was never meant to be limited to our own consumption but rather to provide a gateway for curiosity about the other kinds of African narratives we are keen to provide access to. Until then we will have to create a similar vibe in the gallery minus the food and drink so we can all keep our masks on.
The recently published book: Young and Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists about the Lumpkin Bocuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art says it better than we ever could:
“It became clear that collecting works by artists of color and just hanging them in my home where no one else could see them wasn’t the best approach for these artists…. The difference between being a collector and being a patron is an engagement with the artists that extends beyond the acquisition of any one particular work. It means supporting their work in the broadest ways possible. For the collection that has meant not only showing black art as a means to community pride and a sense of self-representation but also a way to share black culture with audiences unfamiliar with the contributions made by black artists in the United States across the last few decades.”
Until better days are definitely here again, we continue to plan for limited small group events:
There will be further opportunities to interact with Cheikh Tidiane Keita at talks on collecting African Contemporary Art.
We look forward to joint programming with the Refuge Coffee Team also on Auburn Avenue.
In recognition of National Women's History Month, March 2021, we plan to once again partner with Gallery Miriam to exhibit the work of Senegalese artist, Kine Aw. Kine's work pays tribute to the dichotomy African women live between the contemporary and the traditional.
She states: “my work examines the agents of Westernization and globalization as seminal in defining and redefining the image of African women “at home” on the continent. Her work is characterized by curved lines which she says “gives the viewer my perspectives on women in Senegal and African society living between tradition and modernity.
In the late summer and early fall, aKAZ! is delighted to introduce Atlanta and Sweet Auburn to Manuela Madeira and vice versa. Our friendship with Manuela dates back to the early 90s when we were neighbours on Rua G in the Coop area of the city of Maputo. The Coop (short for Cooperantes) was built to provide homes for the many idealistic progressive people or ‘Cooperantes’ from around the world who had come to Maputo, Mozambique to aid in the reconstruction of the country after its late and destructive independence from Portugal in 1974. This independence unleashed a brutal civil war aided and abetted by the apartheid South African regime across the border.
We arrived in Mozambique in the early 90s as peace had finally been achieved and millions of Mozambican refugees streamed back to homes they had abandoned during the war - to assist in this resettlement. All this to say we were neighbours, our babies, that had blood in their veins from Ireland, Uganda, Germany, and Mozambique, spent everyday together in the playground across the street. That was an artwork in and of itself. Fast forward 25 years later and we have all lived in several countries far from Mozambique and Manuela has become an accomplished visual artist. She fuses many influences in her firm and confident vision of pride for African women and in particular those from her own Makua community in northern Mozambique.
She often paints faces with the characteristic white masks from her native Ilha de Mozambique situated off the coast of northern Mozambique near Nampula. Her work also evokes the patina of European masters perhaps as she has spent the last years living in Ireland, France, and Belgium and all of acquire some aspects of our surroundings almost by osmosis. Her Bio is linked here.
Look for invites to all these events in your email!
We also invite you to continue browsing the ‘Butik’ within the gallery where we showcase the work of designers from various corners of the African continent to intentionally and beautifully curate akazi@home. We continue our collaboration with Sandy Teepen, our collagist/quilter and Atlanta art scene pillar whom we are so privileged to call a friend of aKAZ! Her amazing collage - quilts are on permanent display with us.
Recently a shipment of beautiful cushions arrived from Senegal in which Sam Gueye, our friend and wizard upholsterer in Dakar, put together beautiful mudcloth or bogolan from Mali backed and edged in rich and jewel tones of velvet for throw cushions sure to add depth and beauty to any sofa.
As always aKAZ! remains eager to welcome you to the gallery, schedule a visit so that you can share in the vision for this small corner of Sweet Auburn at Haugabrook
Anja & Jumbe Sebunya